Learn to Love
by boredsoiwrite
Summary: Owen and Teddy were never quite so truthful about their past, and it just so happens that someone from it has come to Seattle Grace Hospital. What effects will this have on Owen and Christina's relationship? And who is this mysterious arrival?
1. Chapter 1

Learn to Love 

Chapter one – Betrayal 

It was hard to stay calm for Ellen; she was excited to be here. Seattle Grace hospital was heaven to her; it was a playing field of stealth, which was everything she wanted in her life, or at least everything she thought she would have. Seattle grace wasn't too hard to weave around, for a girl who had spent a fair amount of time playing chase with nurses in her childhood. Growing up, a hospital had already been her playing field, and she was excited to be back in one.

Ellen found the main reception area on the surgical floor, but knew that he wouldn't be here. It was rush hour; this meant that the Pitt would stocking up with casualties. She knew he would be down there; where ever there's drama, there he will be. She rushed down the stairs to find the Pitt, searching for him. She looked through the beds of people, checking each individual doctor to find him. Every face was the wrong shape or the wrong eyes or the smile just wasn't quite right. Just as she was on her way out, a young teenager, on a stretcher was pushed past her into one of the rooms as he groaned and clutched at his leg. Then sure enough she saw the man she was looking for rush past her, the flash of Ginger unforgettable. She smiled and went towards the door, only to realise that if she entered she would surely be thrown out. Ellen went to the reception and grabbed one of the male nurses on call.

"Heey listen, you need to go in there and get Dr. Hunt for me," She said pointing at the room.

"This is an emergency ward ma'am, he's probably very busy."

"No he's not, I saw the man that went in there, minor injuries. Please?"

"Well, what shall I say?"

"Tell him I'm out here, and that he wants to see me."

"How will he know who you are?" He asked incredulous.

"Just describe me, now go!" She said pushing him towards the door, with a grin upon her face. She backed away from the door waiting intently to see him emerge.

The nurse bustled through the door, past the interns who were watching Hunt intently.

"AAAHH!" the guy on the table screamed loudly as Hunt extracted the glass from his shin.

"God, what were you even doing?" He said, as the glass clinked into the metal bowl beside him.

"I kicked a door." He said shamefully.

"Ha-ha, nice move" he said sarcastically, chuckling as the kid winced.

"Urr, Doctor Hunt, a girl outside is here to see you." The male nurse interrupted.

"I'm a little pre-occupied here; tell her to come back later."

"She said you'll really want to see her, she didn't leave a name." He said glancing over his shoulder.

"Okay..." Owen replied, a little confused, "Well, what does she look like?"

"She's like, normal height, blondish hair, pale skin, probably around twenty or so, attractive." He said with a smirk. Owen stopped, suddenly realising who was outside. He put down his surgical tools quickly, pulling off his gloves and rushing outside the room.

As soon as he left the room, he saw her, his mouth falling open. She was standing by the reception, wearing a baggy white t - shirt that sloped off her shoulder displaying a large flag on the front, contrasting with her dark jeans. The nurse's description had not given her enough credit; her golden blonde hair was glinting in the sunlight, where it fell in waves around her beautiful face and her hazel-green eyes sat perfectly outlined, gleaming, the spitting image of her mother's.

"I told you that you'd want to see me." She said grinning at him. Owen ran towards her and scooped her up into a tight hug that lifted her feet off the floor. His heart burst with love as he held her close.

"Hi Dad." She said softly, smiling into his shoulder. He held her tightly, letting the familiar warmth, which always filled him when he saw her, soak in and envelop him in joy.

"God Dad, mushy much?" she teased, as he put down her back down on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in disbelief, overjoyed to see her.

"Well I had some spare time, and Gran said that you could do with a visitor." Emma said raising her eyes at him.

"Okay, trust her to say that to you," he sighed, wishing his mother wouldn't always talk about him as though he was so anti-social,

"But can you really afford to take the time away from school? I mean, it's a long way to come from Stanford just to see me." He worried.

"Don't flatter yourself," She smirked, "But I have time."

"Okay, but you shouldn't miss school because-"

"Jeez Dad, shut up already!" She complained. Owen laughed and they made their way up to the surgical floor, talking and laughing, and getting to know each other again.

When they were up by the reception they saw a man get wheeled past on his way to an O.R, with a long metal object sticking out of his right arm.

"No way, is that seriously an axe?" Ellen said loudly as she watched the man go past.

"Ha-ha, you saw one of those when you were nine."

"Yeah, but this one's better, it's a bigger axe." She said to Owen, her eyes glinting with excitement.

"You're a sick child." He teased, shaking his head.

"I learned from the best."

"Oooh," He said wincing playfully, "That was a harsh, but okay, you win this one," He grinned.

"I always win." She smirked. It was at this point that Cristina ran past, holding her pager in one hand and grabbing a chart with the other. She headed for the elevator as Owen's eyes followed her, mesmerized and refusing to move.

"Ahh, so that's the girlfriend." Said Ellen insightfully, nodding as she watched him.

"What, no. She's not my girlfriend." Owen stuttered, trying to laugh it off.

"Dad, you really think I'm that stupid? I know you better than you know anyone! And I also know that if you have a smile on your face that actually reaches your eyes for once then it means you are in love." Ellen said as she raised her eye brows at him.

Owen crossed his arms, and dropped his head and breathed out, laughing at the way he couldn't get anything past her. When he looked up, Ellen was smiling at him with those eyes and he had to give in.

"Yeah okay, she's my girlfriend, sort of." He added.

"Ha-ha" Ellen laughed with victory.

"Okay, but do not speak to her. I haven't warned her yet of the horror that is Ellen hunt."

"Oh shut up." She said pushing him away from her. Owen laughed, and watched his beautiful nineteen year old light up with passion and excitement, as she bounded off, peering round the corner to try and see the guy with the axe. She had grown up so much since he had last seen her and he couldn't help but feel the twinge in his heart when he realised just how much he had missed after he went to Iraq.

"Frickin unbelievable, Karev stole my patient." Cristina said, as she came over to Owen and slammed her file down on the desk. She continued to talk to Owen as he looked warily over at Ellen, making sure that she wasn't coming over. When Ellen turned around, she saw Christina and Owen talking and advanced at once, a smirk emerging upon her face.

"Hi there, I'm Ellen." She said with a smile, reaching her hand out for Cristina to take.

"Okay, so?" Said Christina looking at Owen. Ellen looked taken a back; she knew that Cristina didn't know that she was Ellen, but she assumed that she knew who Ellen hunt was.

"I'm sorry, Ellen hunt." She said with another smile.

"Oh, so your Owens's cousin?" Cristina asked, hazarding a guess.

"Uh, no," Ellen said letting go of Cristina's hand and turning to look at Owen. She kept her gaze upon Owen for a moment longer, waiting for him to save himself, but when he refused to look at her she spoke softly, her eyes falling, revealing her pain,

"I'm his daughter." She said. The air grew thick and Christina's mouth fell open in shock.

"Still not telling people, huh?" Ellen said, trying to shake it off, to act like it hadn't hurt her.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Ellen began to walk away, but Owen took her arm and refused to let her leave until he had stuttered some explanation that would somehow excuse what he had done. Christina couldn't move with shock, she just stared at Owen in disbelief, the betrayal building up inside her so that her voice stuck in her throat.

Teddy Altman had just come out of the O.R and was on her way to fill out a patient report at the reception when she saw Owen and Christina by the reception desk. She needed a consult and grabbed Owens arm quickly,

"Hey Owen, listen I really need your help on..." Teddy's voice slowly faded as she saw the girl standing beside Owen. She had changed so much; she was no longer a scrawny little girl but a woman, with a slender yet full figure on her beautiful body. Her cheeks had become slim, showing off her perfectly defined jaw, and her hair was no longer white, but a golden blonde which illuminated her pale skin.

"Ellen?" Teddy said, her voice a silent whisper, as though she couldn't believe the beautiful sight before her eyes. As soon as Ellen had seen Teddy, her insides had knotted, the hole in her heart burnt, and her eyes began to sting with tears of anger.

"Mom." Ellen said, not questioningly, but knowingly. There was darkness to her voice and her eyes were pained.

"I-"Teddy began to say, taking a step towards her, but Ellen recoiled away from her, as though she had just been stung my Teddy's presence. Ellen turned and ran away from them, unable to stand being near her Mother for a second longer.

"El, wait!" Teddy called after Ellen but her attempts were useless. She glared at Owen as though all this was his fault, and then stormed away, evidently hurt by what had happened between them.

Silence had fallen without the others, and Owen squirmed uncomfortably as Christina stared dumbfounded at him.

"I don't know what to say." Owen said apologetically to Cristina, taking her hand in his.

"Don't..." She said pulling her hand away from him, shaking her head in disgust. Owen sighed, knowing that there relationship would not be the same after this.

"What do you want me to day Christina? Ellen is my daughter, and Teddy is her mother. And I am so so sorry I didn't tell you, but... I... I just..." He tried to explain but the words just wouldn't form in his mouth as he stuttered over and over.

"Don't even bother." She interrupted spitting out the word in disgust, "I can't even look at you right now." Cristina turned away from Owen and walked out of the reception, leaving Owen all on his own once again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Truth hurts

**Okay, sorry about the typos in the last chapter, and Ellen in not called Emma, that was a mistake. **

**Also, this is not set in the future. The actors who play Owen and Teddy are in their late thirties or early forties if they had a child when they were younger it would make sense. This chapter will go on to explain the rest. Enjoy!**

"DAD!" The little Ellen screamed at Owen as she ran at him down the small stoned path of their house. He turned around on hearing the sound of her voice and scooped up the little blonde angel into his arms, cradling her in his hold.

"Please don't leave." Ellen begged. Her voice began to whimper as the tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Ellie, I have to." He whispered, his heart breaking with such pain.

"But don't worry; I'll be back before you know it." Owen said to Ellen as he put her back on the ground and stared into her beautiful eyes that were swimming in tears.

"Oh, Ellie." He sighed, and pulled her once again into a tight hug. He closed his eyes and whispered very softly to her.

"I love you Ellen Elizabeth Hunt, very much." His voice broke and Owen kissed her head as the tears escaped his eyes. When he let Ellen go he walked away from his little girl, too afraid to turn back, just in case he would never be able to leave her. Owen's Mother came out from the small house and wrapped her arms around her granddaughter as they watched Owen leave. He walked away from their home in his green army uniform, his bag over one shoulder, knowing that he may never come back to see his daughter again. He held his head high as the tears fell silently down his cheeks.

"Dad! Dad!" Ellen screamed after him, as her Grandmother held her tightly, stopping her from running after him. Owen refused to turn back, but carried on walking, only to have his daughter's pained cries follow him through it all.

"Owen! For god's sake, wake up!" Cristina yelled at Owen as she shook him awake. Owen had been on-call and had finally got some sleep in one of the empty rooms. He blinked his eyes open, realising that he was only dreaming of that day when he left Ellen's life to start training to become an Army surgeon serving in Iraq. He seemed to always dream of it when he saw Ellen, and every time it filled him with grief.

He looked up at Cristina, dreading the conversation that was inevitable. Thankful to be awake, Owen got up very slowly, his body aching from being on-call for so long. Cristina handed him a cup of coffee, which he took gratefully while his arms rested on his knees. Cristina sat slowly on the bed next to him as he took a sip of the coffee, wincing as its sharp taste burnt his throat.

"Sorry, it's from the machine on the third floor."

"Ahh." He said knowingly, downing the cup quickly, the revolting taste lingering in his mouth. They sat in silence which seemed to drag on forever, until eventually Cristina turned to look at Owen.

"I need to know." She said plainly. Her voice was sharp and pointed because she knew what she wanted.

"Cristina-"

"No Owen, I need to know." Owen looked at her and took her face in his hands.

"Please." Cristina said, her voice still mono-tone as she stared into Owen's eyes. His hands fell from her face and he brought the back to be clasped over his knees. He sat silently staring at his clenched hands, his mind throbbing with thought.

"Why?" He said finally, his face pained.

"Because I need to know about you and... you and-" She stuttered.

"Teddy." Owen finished.

"Yes." Cristina said pointedly. She watched Owen, waiting for him when he finally turned to her.

"Fine, but you should know now, that I have never loved anyone as much as I love you." He said plainly glancing back at her. She accepted this without letting it get to her, and stared at Owen, waiting for him to speak.

"Okay, well... I was twenty. I was at college when I met this girl. She was different; clever, funny and soon she became one of my closest ever friends."

"Teddy." Cristina said knowingly.

"Teddy." Owen repeated, gazing into the room, his eyes glazing over.

"We were so young and irresponsible, we never meant for our relationship to become so... different. But in one night we had too much to drink and well..."

"You got her pregnant." She finished, her face still blank, clear of emotion.

"Yes I did. We both knew that Teddy couldn't go through with the abortion, and I stuck by her side the whole way through the pregnancy no matter what."

"I never truly felt like a father though, I had never been good with children and it all somehow felt like a dream that one day I would eventually wake up from. At least I felt like that until the day that Ellen was born. Teddy was asleep and so they handed her to me. They gave me this tiny little thing, all warm and wrapped up in pink blankets and when she woke up and stared at me with those big green eyes, I fell completely in love. She just stared at me, completely at peace and I knew in that moment that she was mine and that I would love her forever."

Christina looked down at Owen, feeling her heart break. Owen was mesmerised by the memory of his beautiful baby daughter and Christina now knew how much her position in his life had been jeopardised.

"That is why when Teddy decided that she really wasn't ready to be a mother, I took Ellen home with me and we went to live with my Mother so she could help me raise her." Owen continued.

"And you know it actually worked for a while; we had a stable life. I started my internship at a local hospital and my Mom was looking after Ellen when I was working. Then one day, Teddy came back. She tried to come into our lives again but it wouldn't work; Ellen didn't want her mother anymore. I couldn't forget the look on Teddy's face when she realised that she would never get her daughters love back. I saw it again today." Owen looked down at his hands feeling the guilt weigh down upon him. The silence grew and so he continued quickly, trying to brush off the obvious issues between Ellen and Teddy.

"So anyway, Teddy would visit on the major holidays, and one day she just stopped calling. After a while we didn't notice anymore, thing were going great; I was finishing my residency and I had met Beth. But then I heard about the job enlisting in the army. They offered great training and I wanted to go, I..."

"Why?" Cristina interrupted.

"What?"

"Why did you want to go?" Christina asked slowly, her voice held with perfect clarity.

"Well because, it was a great opportunity for my career, I..."

"No." She interrupted, "That's not the reason, Owen. Why?"

"Because I... well i..." He stuttered, staring into Cristina's eyes, "Because I was terrible father." Owen eventually spoke the words quietly as though he was scared to admit them.

"I know it was selfish of me to leave, I mean, Ellen was so young, and it almost killed me to let her go, but I knew that I was no good for her. She needed anyone but me; I was so broken, so wrong. I... I didn't want to damage her. Because if I hurt her, I would not be able to forgive myself." Owen finished and flicked his gaze back to his hands, fearful of the silence between them. It lingered between them so intense that the sound of their pounding thoughts could almost be heard.

For a while they did nothing and said nothing until Cristina got up, heading for an escape route.

"Cristina, wait!"

"NO." She said forcefully, "I am done waiting, Owen."

"Do you not understand how any of this makes me feel?" She continued.

"Yes I do, and I'm so so sorry I lied to you."

"You didn't just lie to me Owen, you made me believe that there was absolutely nothing between you and Teddy."

"And there isn't! I didn't even know she was in the Army when I joined-" Owen replied reaching out for Cristina's hand which she flicked away from him, her anger coursing through her veins and reaching inside her.

"Of course there is something between you! She is the mother of your child, how can I compete with that?" Her voice began to break, and her stony facade melted. Owen began to reach out towards her again but she took a step backwards out of his hold.

"You know, I think you should tell Ellen and Teddy what you just said to me." Cristina said, sniffing and teetering towards the door.

"Yeah, you should tell them how you feel, and you can all be a family again." Cristina finished, almost icily as she held back her emotions. Owen scrambled up to reach out for her just in time to watch Cristina rush out the door of the on call room, away from his reach and far away from his love.


End file.
